`Campers` Exhibit Boundless Energy At Museum Party

January 2, 1986|By Carol Brzozowski, Staff Writer

It was one heck of a ``morning after`` on New Year`s Day for Raphi Talisman, who was wandering around a room aimlessly in his pajamas.

``I lost my clothes,`` the 10-year-old Washington, D.C., resident said as he weaved through a sea of sleeping bags belonging to the 147 children who had spent New Year`s Eve together at the South Florida Science Museum.

It was an experiment in energy that would have put most adults` holiday parties to shame.

The evening began at 6 p.m. New Year`s Eve and by 9 a.m. New Year`s Day, the children, mostly boys, were still running around the room, playing with computers and museum exhibits and chomping on sausage biscuits.

It was the third annual New Year`s Eve camp-in sponsored by the Science Museum, a substantial museum fund-raiser at $25 a head for non-members and $20 for members. Children in grades one through eight participate.

``There aren`t a lot of things in the community where kids can have a safe, fun evening on New Year`s Eve,`` said party organizer Paula Buerkle, who looked alert for having had only three hours of sleep.

It was a good break for parents, too.

``We just spent the evening at home,`` said JoEllen Lampe, who had come to pick up her three children at 9 a.m. Wednesday. ``Everyone else was probably dumping their kids off to go and have a wild evening, but we have to go to Connecticut today.``

The evening began with a museum instructor blowing up items such as tomatoes with liquid nitrogen, an extremely cold chemical which freezes and shatters objects.

The ``casino`` was open through the evening and party-goers ``gambled`` for toys. They also searched the skies at the planetarium.

Although there was no bubbly for the youngsters, there were plenty of bubbles floating around the museum, the bubble-blowing exhibit being one of the events most popular attractions.

In the auditorium, movies including Gremlins and Ghostbusters had the house packed.

At the stroke of midnight, children filled the air with confetti and the revelry of noisemakers.

Afterward, some went to sleep. Others never did.

The party drew many children from out of state who were visiting relatives here. Other children came with friends who were veteran museum campers.

Still others made new acquaintances, such as Matthew Van Itallie, 9, of New York, and Michael Agresti, 10, of Lake Worth, who were building castles in the sand exhibit.

For Graham Collins, 10, of Atlantis, sleeping was the best part of the soiree. He got more than most people -- six hours. But his waking hours were full of activity.

``It was excellent,`` he said. ``You got to see close-ups of the moon, got to make great big bubbles, you got to do experiments.``

``I don`t think I want to do this again next year,`` said Matthew Bailey, a 16-year-old West Palm Beach resident who served as a counselor for the evening and a ``janitor`` in the morning. ``Some kids wanted to go home in the middle of the night and I couldn`t deal with that. The kids were really wild but it was a lot of fun.``